Travails of the 5th Bedfords

Friday 2nd October 1914: “Three of the Boys from Bedford” serving in the 5th Battalion write: “Just a line to let you know how some of us are faring this way. This place where we are stationed is five miles from nowhere, Rougham[1] by name and nature. We have got some good stables, but the sleeping accommodation is no good. We have rats running over us all night. We start work at 6.30, breakfast at 8, work again, 9 till 1, then dinner, then work 2 to 7. If we want a drink we have to walk nearly three miles through a wood. All of us here have signed on for foreign service. We get frost at nights and it is very cold. Give me Bedford!”

Sources: Bedfordshire Times 2nd October 1914

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[1] There is a Rougham in both Suffolk and Norfolk. From the previous known position of the battalion it seems likely that this is the Suffolk Rougham.